Place of Peace and Power

For the past two weeks, my buddy and I have been trying out Tim Horton coffee shops that we haven’t been to before. Okay, some of them we have been to, but it has been quite a while. We would finish work and on the way home we would hit a different place.

It isn’t really very daring, because all Tim Horton’s are pretty much the same right across Canada. I heard today that they all use the same water purification system to insure the taste of the coffee doesn’t vary from city to city. Louise and I found out two weeks ago that all Tim’s restaurants are contractually obligated to renovate every ten years. That makes sense and insures that no Tim Horton’s is measurably different from any other, well, at least not for longer than ten years.

My buddy and I went into a just open, brand new Tim’s today and it was pretty impressive. It was sparkling, which I kind of expected but at the same time it was like going home. The subtle differences just added to the ambience of the place, and there were a few added features that I hadn’t seen in a Tim’s before. They had installed one of those electronic fireplaces that gave the impression of a fire, but no heat or light. A tiny table was sandwiched between two uncomfortable, comfortable looking leatherette arm chairs. It looks nice, but I could never enjoy sitting in those chairs. Possibly it’s because everyone else in the place would be looking longingly towards me every few minutes, jealous of my good fortune.

Most everything else wasn’t too much different from an older place, just a few tweaks here and there. One really neat thing they have installed is a plug in and a USB charging station accessible to every table. It’s a sign of the times, and pretty handy to get your electronic link to the world charged while you are getting charged with caffeine. I wonder if the USB ports allow a quicker link to the Tim Horton’s WIFI? That would be helpful.

I was discussing how Tim Horton’s has become a Canadian icon in a relatively short period of time. It isn’t about coffee or donuts, I think it is about having a place we can all call our own. There is a social aspect at Tim’s that the other fast food places just don’t have. Sales people will meet clients there, insurance adjusters conduct interviews, nannies meet with other nannies and retired folk come to watch the world over a cup of coffee of course.

It is one of those places where different pieces of the world intersect. It is kind of like those places of peace and power that channel the earth’s energy. Stonehenge, Mount Kailas, Machu Pichu, Ayers Rock, Lhasa, Easter Island and now maybe we can add any of the 3200 Tim Horton’s.

 

Maybe not though, but it’s a nice place to watch the world go by from.